Raymond Wlodkowski

Hall of Fame Class of 2012

As a leading scholar and practitioner, Raymond Wlodkowski, professor emeritus at Regis University, has had a major impact on the adult education in three areas: understanding adult motivation to learn, teaching and planning instruction that enhances adult intrinsic motivation, and researching and developing the quality of accelerated programs for adults.

Wlodkowski has authored or co-authored four books and more than 20 articles and chapters that address adult motivation to learn in college, professional development, culturally diverse settings, and accelerated courses. His book Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults, now in its third edition, has twice been honored with the Phillip E. Frandson Award as an outstanding work by the University Continuing Education Association. The book has been a significant resource and textbook nationally and internationally within the field of adult education for more than 30 years. Wlodkowski’s focus on enhancing intrinsic motivation among adult learners has provided an instructional model (developed with Margery Ginsberg) that offers a system of planning and teaching responsive to culturally different adults. His latest edition of this book integrates a neuroscientific understanding of motivation that confirms educational practices grounded in adult education, biology, the social sciences, and multicultural studies.

He has played a pivotal role in developing the quality of intensive learning in higher education. He was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Accelerated Learning and co-authored the first major publication, Accelerated Learning for Adults: The Promise and Practice of Intensive Educational Formats, to address accelerated learning. He was the founding executive director of the Council for Accelerated Programs (CAP), an organization with 95 universities and colleges in its membership. Continuing his contributions, he has recently co-authored Teaching Intensive and Accelerated Courses: Instruction That Motivates Learning.

Wlodkowski was the first scholar to develop a body of research that investigated accelerated learning formats. Covering a ten-year span of research, his findings offered consistent evidence that adults can satisfactorily meet the challenge of college course work in accelerated courses, which, when designed and taught well, can be quality learning experiences for underserved adults. His research influenced the field of higher education through five published articles and two monographs: Learning in the Fast Lane and Accelerated Learning for Adults.

In addition, Wlodkowski has given scores of keynote presentations and conducted hundreds of workshops and seminars throughout North America, Europe, and Asia to share his ideas and methods. This work has resulted in another well received book: Diversity and Motivation: Culturally Responsive Teaching in College (with Margery Ginsberg, now in its second edition). His writing on the topic of diversity and motivation has resulted in articles in professional development, music education, management education, and training. He is the only adult educator to be invited three times to the U.S. General Army Staff Command College for the Teacher Scholars Presentation. Over the span of his career he has been a reviewer for numerous scholarly and practitioner journals, including The Journal of Teacher Education, Educational Leadership,and Adult Education Quarterly. He has served as a subject matter expert for program development at colleges and universities, most recently for the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.